3

Sir

since the two together form the chief | all men to the same opinions in religion, documents from which the authorized or in order to vindicate the infallibility opinions of the church of England dur- of that supremacy of which he deing this reign can be derived, it will be prived the pope, by assuming it as his necessary to examine them in detail; own prerogative. and the subject will more conveniently § 215. (A. D. 1538.) John Lambert, be deferred to the end of the chapter. while chaplain to the English company $214. Thus far every thing seems at Antwerp, had, by his acquaintance to have favoured the Reformation; but with Frith and Tyndale, advanced in a new line of policy, which was adopted those religious opinions which he had by Gardiner and the other friends of originally derived from Bilney. popery, appears to have created an al- Thomas More had directed the Antteration in the sentiments of the king, werp merchants to dismiss him from and thus to have given a considerable their service; and, on his return to advantage to the cause which they ad- England, he escaped persecution only vocated. This party had generally ex- by the death of Archbishop Warham. hibited great outward compliance with He now kept a school in London, and the opinions and wishes of Henry; and having advanced some opinions conby enlisting his vanity on their side, cerning the corporal presence, in conthey now worked the ruin of many of sequence of a sermon preached by Dr. their opponents, and provoked him to Taylor, afterwards bishop of Lincoln, exercise much cruelty towards them. he was brought before Cranmer, and Among the reformers generally, there unfortunately appealed to the king. was no point on which the minds of Gardiner seized the opportunity, which many were so little settled as concern- was thus afforded him, of exasperating ing the nature of "presence," by which the royal theologian against heterodox our Saviour's body is said to be present opinions, and a public trial was apin the elements. Henry, in his book pointed to take place in Westminster against Luther, of which he was particularly proud, had maintained the doctrine of the "corporal presence," and all the public acts of the church of England had declared for the same opinion. The subject itself is one of extreme delicacy, and the political relations of the kingdom rendered additional caution necessary; for if any person had been persecuted for tenets which they held in common with the Lutherans, this circumstance might have subjected the king to the remonstrances and anger of the princes of Germany; but towards the sacramentaries he was fettered by none of these scruples; and they might be attacked under the vain expectation of reducing

1 It may not be amiss to remark, that there were two books known by each of these names. A declaration against the papal supremacy in 1536, in consequence of Pole's Book on Ecclesiastical Union, is called also the Bishop's Book, and one published in 1533, De Differentia Regiæ et Ecclesiastica Potestatis, the King's. (Strype's Cranmer, 75, vol. i.)

There is, too, considerable confusion about this book in Burnet, who is generally ignorant concerning printed books, and makes a confusion between the Institution and Erudition.

Hall. It requires but little sagacity to determine how a disputation carried on between persons so differently circumstanced was likely to terminate. On the one side sat the king, surrounded with his bishops, at once disputants and judges; on the other, an heretical schoolmaster, supported only by a conviction of the truth, and reasoning on a topic wherein the learned have differed, and concerning which pious Christians have disagreed. The poor man was after a time silenced, and on this conviction sentenced to be burnt. At the

3 His real name was Nicholson; he adopted this for the sake of concealment, in consequence

of having been before in trouble about religion. (Strype's Cranmer, i. 92.)

Cranmer, unfortunately, on this occasion argued against Lambert in favour of the corporal presence. He was at this time a believer in transubstantiation, an error which he did not reject till 1546, in consequence of a conference with Ridley. (Strype's Cranmer, i. 96.) It has been asserted that Cranmer successively held the doctrines of the Romanist, the Lutheran, and the Calvinist, on this point. (Laurence, Bampt. Lect. 16 and 202, 10.) But this he positively denied in his examination before Martin, (Fox.) The mistake probably arose from his publishing the Catechism of Justus Jonas in English, in 1548, which might be supposed to contain the opinions of the Lutherans. (Oxford edit. 208.) But the point is there treated of so generally, that

F

execution, in Smithfield, after his legs maineth no substance of bread and wine, were consumed, his body remained alive, and was at length put into the fire by the halberts of the civil officers, while his last words were, "None but Christ, none but Christ." The king was as much pleased with the affair as the party who duly magnified it; and they now began to obtain a considerable influence at court.

and another, which gave to the king's for though the outward appearance of proclamations, under certain limitations, the force of law.

favour was continued, and though he sat in this parliament as lord vicegerent, yet on June 13th he was arrested by the duke of Norfolk, and sent to the Tower. His fate was instantly decided; for few wished to save him; and no one, excepting Craniner, ventured to plead his cause. He was condemned by an attainder, on some very extraordinary evidence of having threatened the king's life, and the sentence was put in execution on July 28.

It is extraordinary that the proceedings which followed the passing the act of the Six Articles affected Cranmer in a very trifling degree, though he had openly opposed them, and at the king's desire had written a treatise against them yet such was the love and confidence which Henry entertained towards the archbishop, that he would never even receive an accusation against him. The archbishop sent his wife into Ger- § 220. Thus fell one great instrument many privately, and continued in the of the Reformation,' whose talents had performance of his ecclesiastical duties. | raised him to the highest station attainHe disliked several of the articles, and able by a subject, and whose fall was abhorred the severity of the act; but his more owing to the changeful disposition opinions were not now diametrically of his master, than to any fault of his contrary to the first article, and he comown. His exaltation from the lowest plied. Latimer and Shaxton, on the rank of life had exposed him to the envy other hand, esteemed it contradictory to and hatred of the noble and powerful, the word of God, and conscientiously while the papal party looked on him as resigned their sees. the great enemy of their cause. prived, therefore, through this unfortunate marriage, of the favour of the king, on which alone he could depend for support, and particularly obnoxious to those towards whom the affections of Henry were at this moment directed, he felt the unjust force of an attainder, where he was unable to answer for himself, and of which unfortunately he had introduced the precedent. Nothing of any serious nature was laid to his charge; from whence it may fairly be inferred that no such evidence could be adduced; for had it existed, there was nothing to hinder its production. His great merit, independent of his own industry and abilities, consisted in bringing forward men on account of their talent rather than interest.3

One point, however, was gained to the cause of the Reformation: a proclamation was issued for the printing of the Bible, which at the same time allowed the free use of it to individuals. § 219. The death of Jane Seymour had left the king a widower in October 14, 1537; and though the birth of Edward had provided him with an heir to the crown, it was not probable that a man of his temperament should remain long in this solitary condition. He had heard much of the beauty of Anne of Cleves; and Cromwell was well pleased to promote a match which was so likely to prove beneficial to the cause of the Reformation. When the king and the minister were both in favour of the marriage, it is natural that advantageous reports concerning every thing connected with it should predominate, and that the charms of a future queen should be described in favourable colours. The disappointment, therefore, of Henry was the greater, when he beheld his destined bride; and though he was married to her, (Jan. 6th, 1540,) yet this consort seems never to have possessed the slightest portion of his affection. The fall of Cromwell was probably owing to this circumstance;

ing more. (Mem. ii. No. 106.) One scheme is given in Strype, wherein the number amounts to twenty.

De

§ 221. This was the first step towards the dissolution of the objectionable marriage, which was afterwards brought before the convocation, and annulled on the plea, that the king's consent to it had not been inward and full, a circumstance which was absolutely required to make the sacrament complete, and upon the further ground that the marriage had never been consummated. This decision, however absurd in itself, seems to have perfectly satisfied the princess, who was contented to be treated 1 Burnet, i. 2 See § 227. 3 Strype, Ecc. Mem. i. 562.

as a sister, and to reside in England
on a pension of three thousand pounds
a year.
She wrote to her brother, the
duke of Cleves, signifying her full con-
currence in all these proceedings.

wherever the Bible is in the hands of the mass of the people, their teachers cannot long impose on them the doctrines of men instead of the commandments of God.

(A. D. 1542.) The discovery of the former ill life of the queen led to the attainder of herself and her accomplices; and an enactment was made, not more remarkable for its severity than folly; as if laws could provide for female chastity, while the conduct of the other sex tended to overthrow the bulwarks of the sacred institution of marriage.

The king was married immediately after to Catharine Howard; an event which gave additional power to the papal cause, for she was niece to the duke of Norfolk, whom every one regarded as the chief patron of that party. Add to which, that those Protestants, who had previously shared the favour of this variable monarch, were now in too much danger for themselves to come forward in the defence of others, so that An attempt was made in convocathe attainder of Barnes for heresy passed tion to suppress the English Bible, without any opposition, and he was against which great objections were burnt in Smithfield, without even know- raised, on the grounds of its incorrecting the grounds on which he was con- ness; and Gardiner presented a list of demned. He had indeed preached at words which did not admit of translaSt. Paul's Cross against Gardiner; but tion. But Cranmer, knowing that the this offence had apparently been for- correction of inaccuracies would progiven; and Barnes, as well as Jerome ceed but slowly, in the hands of those and Gerard, who suffered with him, had, who were adverse to the general distriafter a conference with the king, re-bution of any translation at all, used his nounced errors which they probably never entertained. But this could not save them; the spirit of persecution was now let loose, and its effects were felt by many of the advocates of the gospel. It is the observation of Lord Herbert, that "these punishments did but advance their religion;" and "it was thought they had some assistance from above, it being impossible, otherwise, that they should so rejoice in the midst of their torments, and triumph over the most cruel death." The cruelty of the king, however, was not confined to the reformers; on the same day an equal number of Roman Catholics were executed for denying the supremacy.

§ 222. (a. D. 1541.) No one had now any very material influence over the mind of Henry; and the cause of the Reformation met with different success, according to accidental circumstances, and the changing opinions of the king. In May the Bible was printed, and ordered to be set up in all churches. This was not in itself any very important step, for the same injunction had been before made; but every proclamation of this sort increased the facility of access to the word of God: and

Life of King Henry, p. 226.

influence with the king; and, to the great displeasure of the clergy, the examination of the Bible was referred to the universities.

§ 223. In the injunctions which were now set forth by Bonner for the diocese of London, and which probably correspond with those of other bishops at the same period, there are many good directions given to the clergy, with respect to their own lives, and the performance of the pastoral duties; and they are particularly forbidden to allow any one to preach in their cures, who had not been licensed by the bishop or the king. The evil which might thus have arisen to their flocks from the want of preachers was obviated, as far

marry a woman whom he esteemed a maid, and 2 It was enacted, that if the king were about to she, not being so, did not reveal it, that she should be adjudged guilty of treason; and that any other concealed it, should be esteemed guilty of mispri persons, who were conscious of the same, and sion of treason.

3 They consist of about one hundred, of which

the great mass are perfectly capable of being translated without any loss of meaning. In some few cases, the original words are retained in our present translation; as Tetrarch, Synagogue, Gentile, Pagan, Parable, &c. See Fuller, Ch.

Hist.

p. 238; Lewis, 145, &c.
4 Burnet, P. i. B. iii. Coll. No. 26.
5 Ibid. i. 317, fol., 575, 8vo.

as possible, by a set of homilies now pleased; for the Act of the Six Articles 1 published; a useful step in a period was declared to be still in force, and of so much irritation, and calculated to the king was permitted to alter any calm the angry passions, which so part of this act. Subsequent events greatly injured the cause of true reli- soon proved how insufficient these engion. During these troublous times, actments were, as a safeguard against such of the clergy as were licensed to the bigotry of the bishops, and the repreach were so frequently attacked on ligious tyranny of the throne. account of their expressions, that many adopted the custom of writing their sermons, which has since generally prevailed.